Word to the Wildcats

Word to the WIldcats, Season 7, Episode 1 kicks off with our two co-hosts Zaire and Molly engaging in a conversation around Health and Wellness.

Ronnie Burris is a current senior at Central Washington University actively pursuing graduate school education in some of the top educational departments in the world. Ronnie has worked in a variety of different offices throughout his undergraduate experience including Housing and Residence Life, Orientation and Transitions Programs, and Student Leadership, Involvement, & Community Engagement/Diversity & Equity Center Mentoring. Ronnie hopes to further empower black students through the systems of education and the world!

Dr. Cindy Bruns received her PhD in Clinical Psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology.  Her experience includes 20 years in university counseling centers, with specialty background in college student mental health, trauma, and the interaction between social justice and mental health.  Dr. Bruns has been at Central Washington University for nearly 13 years, serving first as Counseling Services’ Training Director.  She has been the Director of Counseling for CWU since 2019.

Professor Andrea Eklund has been at CWU teaching Apparel, Textiles, and Merchandising for 15 years. Starting out with 25 students she solely built the program for 11 years to a thriving industry-relevant program with graduates working at small and large companies like REI, Eddie Bauer, Zumiez, Zulily, Amazon, and Nike to name a few. Andrea’s time in the industry as a Quality Engineer for Nordstrom’s private label division, Nordstrom Product Group gave her experience working with men’s, women’s, kid’s, at home, accessories, and shoes. Part of her position at Nordstrom included social responsibility with the many brands she worked with. Andrea brings this experience into the classroom for industry-relevant content assuring students are prepared for the industry. Courses throughout the program include information on social responsibility-related topics and how students can make a difference in the apparel industry.

Makenna Thuringer is the President of CWU SISTERS and has been an officer on the board for SISTERS for three years and a member her freshman year. Makenna is a senior at Central Washington University majoring in Public Health with a specialization in Population Health. She intends to further her education after receiving her bachelor's degree by applying to MPH Graduate Programs around the US. She is heavily involved on campus and currently works at SLICE (Student Leadership Involvement and Community Engagement) as a student program leader and at the Wellness Center as a Peer Health Educator. Makenna gives credit to SISTERS for providing an environment to grow and be the leader she is today. She has volunteered much of her time helping better the CWU and greater Ellensburg community through her time at SISTERS. She is incredibly proud of how far SISTERS has come over the last few years and is excited to see the community grow with the next generation of leaders.

Katelyn Richardson is a Senior majoring in Food Science and Nutrition with a specialization in dietetics. Katelyn's career goal is to become a diabetes educator for kids. She is Vice President of Sisters, Public Relations Officer of Nutrition Science Club, and a contributor to Her Campus. She's passionate about getting involved at Central by creating memories and meeting different people. The roles she's taken on in her senior year have helped her enhance my leadership abilities and learn from others. I hope to take all that I've learned here at Central and continue to grow and excel.

Season 5, Episode 4 features Nathaniel McMillion with the CWU Black Student Union. Nate dives into conversations exploring Foundations of Leadership and the reality of being black in Ellensburg. During his time at Central, Nate has had the opportunity to serve as the student trustee, president for the Black Student Union, worked with multiple Equity and Service Counsel organizations such as CASA and Polycentral, and has worked in the Diversity and Equity Center since his sophomore year. He is majoring in Public Relations and minoring in Africana Black Studies. Nate's interest in Public Relations stems from his previous experiences serving as a youth pastor and making connections with people of all ages and ethnicities. He came to CWU after working at Verizon Wireless in Kent. He began as a sales representative but was later promoted to the assistant manager position right before coming to Central. Nate was born in Tacoma, Washington, and remained there until his graduation from Bethel High School in 2011. After receiving his diploma, Nate moved to Kent in pursuit of a career interest that later led him to rediscover his love for Public Relations and to apply to Central.

Season 5, Episode 3 features Alex Splattstoesser and Alisa Muench with the CWU Theatre Department. Alex and Alisa dive into conversations exploring professional development while channeling their inner “theater kid.”

Alex Splattstoesser is a senior in the musical theatre department here at Central. He has been a part of several productions on and off campus in Ellensburg doing things like choreography in the 2019 production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame or acting on stage during the spring 2021 production of Theory of Relativity. With his final year a lot of time is being used to iron out the rest of his degree and prepare for a move to Chicago. Alex is grateful to be able to provide a voice to what exactly musical theatre students do and how to transfer what we do here in college to the professional world. In his free time he enjoys taking care of his plants, hitting the gym, and finding new music!

Alisa Muench is a senior Musical Theatre Major from Sammamish, WA. She started at CWU in 2017 as a general theatre studies BA and eventually joined Musical Theatre in 2019. She's been in a multitude of shows at Central and beyond. Her credits include: Paulette (Legally Blonde), Ms. Pennywise (Urinetown), Lucy van Pelt (You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown), Mrs. Jacobson (Dissent), Gargoyle (Hunchback of Notre Dame), Louise (Holiday Inn), #25 (The Wolves), Martha (Spring Awakening). Alisa also recently participated as a finalist in the Region 7 Kennedy American College Theatre Festival Musical Theatre Scholarship Audition Competition (phewf, a mouthful). She placed 2nd in the region and Top 16 in the country. She is the president of The Hot New Jam (Central's Best and Only Improv Team) and the director of The Rocky Horror Picture Show here at Central. Alisa loves musical theatre and loves to talk about it any chance she gets.

Episode 2 features Katie Parks. Katie recently joined the Wellness Center team as the Health Promotion Coordinator for Violence Prevention and Response. She received her B.S. in Psychology and Women & Gender Studies from Central Michigan University in 2019 and her Master of Social Work degree from the University of Michigan in 2021. She has previous experience working in the field of violence prevention and response and is very passionate about this work. Katie takes pride in offering compassionate, trauma-informed services to survivors and working to create a healthy and safe campus environment.

Season 5 kicks off with two members of the Presidents United to Solve Hunger (PUSH) club. Bianca Sanchez and Andrea Gullien-Hernandez are members of PUSH and dive into an engaging conversation around normalizing needs. Presidents United to Solve Hunger (PUSH) is a national effort to encourage college and university presidents to commit to fighting hunger. At the urging of faculty, staff, and students the previous CWU President, James Gaudino, signed the commitment in 2015. The CWU chapter is committed to reducing hunger and resource insecurity on campus. PUSH is a combined effort from students, faculty, staff, and Ellensburg community partners to connect students to resources. They believe that no academic program is effective when students are hungry or unhoused. PUSH manages a food pantry, an emergency meal fund, and pop-up events to provide boxes of food and hygiene products to students.

Season 4, Episode 4 is an ENCORE episode from Season 2 featuring Teresa I. Francis, J.D., LL.M. (aka Divine). Divine is an Associate Professor at Central Washington University in the Department of Law and Justice. She was born and raised in the Bronx. As a young person, she waited in the hallways of New York City night court awaiting her mother’s arraignment. 

At eighteen, she fought in family court to win custody of my younger siblings.   Divine’s past family issues permitted her to share her first-hand vivid stories about urban life with students and the community. Her life experiences have dedicated to the success of students of color. She served as the BSU advisor from 2005-2019. She was responsible for the first Black Graduation in 2006. She organized the 2020 Teach IN/OUT in response to the BLM protest and uprising around the country after the death of George Floyd.